Long walk...

How in the world had it gotten to be so late. Reign looked up bleary eyed from her mountains of notes and noted that it was nearly midnight. Well hell nearly a whole day shot and what had she accomplished, precious little. Irritably slamming the book shut and throwing her pen across the room Sirius looked up at her from his near by spot on the floor, his head cocked in question.

"Yeah I know immature and pointless but you deal with this mess."Â?

The dog's gaze was steady almost asking Reign to continue.

She only sighed at him and stood, stretching and cracking her back slightly.


"Ok you win, you've been good."Â?

Knowing what that meant the big Shepard was immediately on his feet and waiting expectantly at the front door. Snapping the leash to his collar they both headed out finding their way to the C John Apollo Park and Nature Preserve.

Pop would have approved of they guys name, Reign mused but other than that it meant nothing to her. She noticed a baseball stadium and thought there might be hope for this place yet, a minor league team was better than no team at all.

However, Reign headed down for the beach. She liked being near the water, it always calmed her. Sirius, however, kept tugging at his leash, obviously wanting to run.


"Sorry boy-o. Leash laws and I didn't bring a Frisbee anyway."Â?

Reign 17 years ago
Finally irritated by Sirius’ constant tugging, and not feeling like running with him she decided leash laws be damned, it be worth the fine to keep her right arm intact. So Reign let the dog run, with a grateful bark he took off like a shot, right into the surf. She sighed, that was going to make a mess later, but at least he was happy.

Flopping down in the sand, she watched him play and explore. He’d been a gift from her ex and as much as Reign loved Sirius he reminded her of what she’d left, run away from. That never made Reign happy, in fact it depressed her, she hated the idea that she’d run away. As she sat there she told herself it wasn’t because she was a coward, she just needed time to think, to finish her dissertation and space to practice and decide if she wanted to keep up with the tour.

These thoughts didn’t at all help her mood and she went from sitting on the beach to laying flat on her back in the sand. When the hell had she developed a mid life crisis?


“I’m too young for this shit!”

Since there was no one about Reign shouted the words into the night, it almost made her feel better.
William 17 years ago
Will had chosen to hunt after that even, and had managed to find two willing young ladies and found himself rather engorged with young hot blood. It made his skin crawl a little, so he decided to take a long walk. His wandering feet had taken him through the Park to the beach. Will loved the ocean. He enjoyed his boat trips across the Atlantic to visit his maker, taking in the sights and smells all along the way.

In the distance he heard a dog bark, then shortly later a frustrated shout. He was too far from the source to make out the words, but he conjectured that it was the own fussing at the dog. The voice sounded feminine, but it was difficult to be sure since he was so far away. Shrugging Will continued his walk.

Before long he came upon a young woman lying in the sand as a rather large shepard played dodge the waves. Hoping the girl was alright he approached her slowly and stopped several feet from where she lay.


"Miss? Are you alright?"
Reign 17 years ago
Oh bloody brilliant, she shouts obscenities into the night and –of course- there was some one about to hear them. Reign made a note to find Murphy and kill him, he’d cause a great deal of trouble over the years.

As she tried to decide whether or not to sit up and be social Sirius trotted back and stood protectively over her. Reign absently reached up and rubbed his head as she decided to try out this whole being social thing.


“Oh peachy.”

Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she sat up. This was not exactly four star being social she decided and shrugged by way of apology, he was only being nice.

“Just a rough day… night… morning… what the hell time is it?”

Not one to wear a watch Reign often lost complete track of time, all she knew was it had been late when she left her place so theoretically it was early now. But that was all a matter of perspective as well.
William 17 years ago
William chuckled softly. "I am glad you are not injured. I feared you had hit your head and lay here dying."He smiled down at her, then glanced at his watch. "It is just after two."

Will crouched down where he was and held a hand out to the dog, palm up. He'd give the beast the opportunity to get his scent before he approached the young woman, no need to have to heal a dog bite if it could be prevented.

"I am Will. What brings you out to the beach at such a late hour?" He looked up from trying to get the dog to be friendly and smiled again, pushing hair from his eyes with a free hand.
Reign 17 years ago
“If I’m dying there should be more blood, don’t you think. More dramatic and all.”

Oddly, enough that made Reign smile, great she was working on death wishes here. Death wish… dissertation… they both started with D maybe that meant something. With her luck, it meant she should start watching Sesame Street.

Reign watched as Sirius decided Will probably wouldn’t attack her and sat down expecting to be pet. He really was shameless some times. Reign grinned at her dog and it didn’t fade as she looked back to her fellow nocturnal wanderer.


“We needed to stretch our legs. I sort of lost track of time today and before I knew it the whole day was gone and I hadn’t left my desk. I hope you have a more sinister reason or this town has no hope at all.”
William 17 years ago
Will scratched behind the dogs ears, down his neck and gave his side a firm pat. Comfortable in the crouch Will, he rested his arms on his thighs and smiled at the young woman.

"I'm afraid not. I had a very heavy meal after work, and decided to walk off the effects." The dog nudged his hand for more attention and he obliged with a gentle rub of head and neck.

"If you are looking for the sinister side of this town, I am afraid the beach was a terrible choice."

Giving the dog another firm pat on the side, he smiled again. She was a cute little thing and he wondered what had happened in her life to give her such a cynical attitude toward the world, or perhaps she'd just had a bad day. He also wondered why she did not return his introduction. He would address it again shortly. Though he had not held out his hand in greeting and perhaps she needed that contact before she gave her name. Well he would look silly doing it now.
Reign 17 years ago
“Freak.”

Reign muttered at her four-legged friend. He could be such a vampire when it came to affection, bleeding a person dry. She shoved him away and he took that as an invitation to play bowing and wagging his tail. Reign just rolled her eyes and he settled down and lay down next to her. Sirius might have decided Will wasn’t an immediate threat but that didn’t mean he wasn’t protective of his mistress.

“Must have been one hell of a dinner for you to still be walking.”

She observed with a grin. Some how Reign figured there was more than just dinner involved. He wasn’t bad looking, it was late, and it seemed logical.

Reign half laughed at his observation.


“You’re right I should be hanging around dark allies dressed in black to find the seamy underbelly of the city. But you never know when Nachton’s under world will throw a beach party.”
William 17 years ago
Will gave a one shouldered shrug, and rested his arms on his thighs once more. "I work late hours, dinner wasn't that long ago."


He hoped she didn't think he was walking off sex, that would put him in a light he didn't particularly care for, not that he could influence her thinking if he wanted to.

"Oh you just missed that, it's the first Thursday of every month. It's quite the hullabaloo, or so I'm told."

He really ought to say good by to this young lady and find his way home, but ever since running into Nic, he'd felt a need to be more social. He wasn't agoraphobic, so he was beginning to question why he spent so much time indoors, then again this town was too big to walk every where. Maybe he'd get a bicycle, they haven't changed those that much in the last hundred years.
Reign 17 years ago
That was fair enough, her own personal hours were all over the map, especially when on tour, that dinner was sometimes at two in the morning. It also made her realize something.

“You know I don’t think I had dinner…”

If she had, she it was while working and she didn’t remember it. It must have been particularly boring if she had too.

Appreciating the absurdity of the conversation, something she usually enjoyed Reign grinned broadly.


“I can see it now, a dark suit and a lei, I’ll have to come back for it next month, and I’d hate to be left out again.”
William 17 years ago
"A pink one with those little yellow beads between each flower. Yes, you would look lovely and fit in quite well, as most of the seedy underbelly wears dark suits to the beach."

He grinned, she was so far an interesting person, but he felt a bit odd not knowing her name, and a wave of concern had washed over him at the thought that she had not nourished herself. He wondered if she needed a willing donor or good chef.

"If I remember correctly there are a few little restaurants near by that serve seafood. I would be most delighted to share a meal with you, Miss..."

He ended the word on an up note, hoping she would answer the implied question.
Reign 17 years ago
Reign let herself laugh at the idea of dancing the hula with gangsters; it actually struck her as quite funny. The image of grass skirts and Tommy Guns was also funny. Her mind kept coming up with these things and she had to actually make herself stop.

“I’ll pencil it in then.”

Seafood sounded brilliant, but then again she did have a partiality for it. Sirius was always a problem, maybe some place with patio seating…

Miss… ah damned she’d forgotten to introduce herself again. It was just an odd fluke, Reign often neglected to give her name, it wasn’t intentionally rude or mysterious just something she’d miss.


“Sorensen. Reign Sorensen. The mutt is Sirius. And something to eat sounds brilliant if you have a suggestion, some place that won’t mind him.”
William 17 years ago
Will stood and offered a hand to help her up.

"Such a lovely name." He grinned, and brushed hair from his eyes again. "I am quite certain Sirius will not be a difficulty."
Reign 17 years ago
Ignoring her Bond, James Bond introduction, which hadn’t been intentional and just a side effect of a lot of work, Reign accepted the offered hand and stood. As she paused to dust the sand off her pants and snap Sirius’ leash back on she decided he was borderline flirting. Granted she could be misreading him, flirting was something she had never quite mastered.

“Lead our first battle worthy Mac Duff.”

Mac Beth, why it had jumped into her head just then Reign didn’t know but she didn’t often fight things like that.

If the random quoting and large dog hadn’t scared him off and he was flirting, and she still didn’t fully subscribe to that theory, he was sort of cute. Something about hair in his eyes reminded her…


“Unless you’re not hungry. I could just take a recommendation and wouldn’t hold it against you.”
William 17 years ago
"And we shall take upon 's what else remains to do." Perhaps that was laying it on a bit thick. Will loved MacBeth, in fact he enjoyed anything by Shakespeare and had copies of his complete works. He was happy to meet someone who seemed to share his love of literature, and quoted it randomly.

"I would enjoy a late night repast, Miss Sorenson. Or if I prove to full to dine, then the company shall be repast enough."

He gave a small bow at the waist and gestured down the beach, in the direction he had been heading when he'd run into this interesting and lovely creature. 'Yes, she had been cute, but now I find her lovely. Shakespeare will do that to a man.'
Reign 17 years ago
Reign perked up when he finished the quote. Most people just looked at her cross-eyed when she spouted Shakespeare. She’d sworn off men for a while though… but it was just dinner. What could that hurt?

Adjusting her grip on Sirius’ leash, she absently twisted the rings on her right hand. Miss Sorensen was correct, she’d never changed her last name and so didn’t have to change it back. Maybe that was the first sign it wouldn’t work out.

Dinner! She forcibly reminded herself, just dinner.


“Reign is just fine, Sorensen can be a bit of a mouthful.”

She wasn’t quite sure what to make of him, or the seemingly formal manners, but she wasn’t put off and grinned at him.

So she kept pace with him and an eye out for a place to eat, and even a fast food joint would do right now.


“A MacBeth fan?”
William 17 years ago
"Reign." He smiled at her, the boldness of the women of this age some times amazed him. He had read about the women's movement and had met several suffragettes back in the day, and even a few bra burning hippies, but it sill never ceased to amaze him. Shrugging it away, he headed toward one of the few restaurants he'd visited along this stretch of beach.

"I am indeed. Well, anything by Shakespear. If I had to pick a favorite it would be between As you Like it and A Midsummer Night's Dream. What of you? Is MacBeth your favorite?"

It was a great ice breaking conversation and Will was pleased to have run into such a seemingly well educated young lady.
Reign 17 years ago
She was well aware that until you saw the spelling of her name it was easy enough to think she was some sort of new age tree hugging granola eating hippy. The name Rain often seemed to bring to mind broomstick skirts and Birkenstocks, but hers was Reign and she quickly enough dissuaded most people of any sweet and gentle earth mother images.

Reign nodded and smiled politely when he acknowledged her first name.


“I do love a midsummer Night’s Dream. It makes me laugh.”

It was as simple as that for her, no grand reasons or overly educated long-winded explanations.

“But I think Othello is my favorite. He caught the best and the worst of humanity in that play.”

She followed along, letting him lead, pick out the restaurant. She’d only been in the city a short while and had little to no clue where would be a good place to eat.
William 17 years ago
Will nodded in agreeance. "I must concur, however I simply prefer his comedies. He has a great sense of timing, and makes even the tragic absurd."

They came to a clapboard building with a wooden porched extending steps into the sand. "Here we are."

The Clam Dig was a fun little place that served nothing but clams and oysters. You could get them made any way imaginable, but there was nothing else on the menu. A waitress met them at the door with menus and a large piece of brown butcher's paper over her arm.

"Welcome to the Clam Dig! Two? Come with me!" She was small, brunette and perky. Will thought she was just a tiny bit too happy to be serving clams at two-thirty in the morning, and wondered if she had been drinking. The woman walked toward a table and Will placed his hand gently on Reign's lower back and pressed gently indicating she should go first.

The waitress put the brown paper over an empty table and put the menus on top. She pulled several crayons out of her pocket and wrote her name (Katie with a heart over the i) on the paper as they sat down. Will pulling out Reign's chair and seeing to her comfort before taking his own ladder back white washed chair. None of the chairs in the place matched, as though the proprietor went around to rummage sales and bought the left overs. It was quaint. Katie took their drink order and walked away.


"Do you enjoy clams and oysters, Reign?"




((Permission given to touch and move Reign about.))
Reign 17 years ago
OK so maybe she was a little morbid, liking Othello as much as she did but she felt an odd kinship with the character. Being deceived and manipulated, granted Othello found out what an idiot he’d been and she wasn’t likely to discover that but still.

“Its hard to feel the timing when you’re reading them. The comedies, more so than the tragedies, I think need to be seen in order to be appreciated.”

Reign raised a circumspect eyebrow at the waitress. She was… … not someone Reign would want to be trapped in an elevator with. That was very much confirmed when she dotted the ‘i’ with a heart. ‘God save us all from perky wait staff.’ She silently prayed.

Felling his hand on the small of her back and seeing how he held the chair out, making sure she was settled Reign again tried to decide if she was riding things right or if she was getting mixed signals. She couldn’t decide.

Fortunately, Katie had seated them on the porch. Sirius made himself at home under the table, lying at Reign’s feet. He was well mannered in social situation.


“Oysters Rockefeller. I’m not sure where I developed a taste for them, but its one of my favorites. I’m guessing you must be fond of them or you wouldn’t know about this place.”

She smiled brightly at him. Will had made an excellent choice, now that she thought about it that was just what she wanted. Mixed signals or not he was two points to the good.
William 17 years ago
Will grinned, pushing the ever wayward hair from his eyes. "I love them, mostly raw on the half shelf with a little tabasco or lemon juice, instead of prepared, though a nice linguini with butter sauce and steamed clams is just perfect from time to time."

He was suddenly glad he'd fed already as he was very much enjoying this young lady's company, then again she could be a vampire as well and he needn't have worried about feeding in that case. He didn't particularly care if she was human or not, she was very intelligent, well read and interesting to talk with. So he'd keep the subtle 'are you a vampire' questions to himself for now.

"Do you mind if I ask what you do for a living?"

Just then Katie returned with their drinks, water with lime for him, and put several bottles of condiments on their table; ketchup, tabasco, malt vinegar, some other kind of hot sauce, and a small pile of wet nap packets.

"Are you guys ready, or do you need another moment?"

Will was of course ready, so he lifted an eyebrow at Reign, leaving the answering to her.